1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a standalone duplication system, in particular, the invention relates to a standalone duplication system that is capable of connecting to a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Recordable medium, like Optical discs, are a widely used and popular commodity in today's society, as shown by multiple conventional optical disc recording devices used to duplicate one or multiple optical discs, including, dedicated personal computers and standalone duplication systems.
A personal computer typically has one recording device, and therefore can only write one optical disc per recording session. If multiple optical discs are required to be duplicated, then multiple back-to-back recording sessions of one disc at a time must be performed sequentially, with the discs being manually loaded and unloaded. Further, high-density optical discs such as DVD and Blu-ray discs are now widely available. Duplicating multiple high-density optical discs will take a prolonged amount of time.
A conventional standalone duplication system comprises of a casing which is equipped with a reading source and multiple stacked recording devices that can simultaneously duplicate multiple recordable medium from a source loaded in the reading source. Since users can operate a control panel on the casing to command a control module in the standalone duplication system to complete the recording sessions, the standalone duplication system need not be connected to a personal computer. Further, because the standalone duplication system only performs duplication, such duplication can be achieved using a central processing unit (CPU) with basic data processing ability. So a high-end CPU, as applied in personal computers, is not required.
Another option in conventional standalone duplication systems is to integrate the standalone duplication system with a hard disk. Data to be duplicated can be transmitted from the personal computer to the hard disk via a USB interface. After the data has been stored in the hard disk, the users operate the control panel to select desired data from the hard disk and initiate a recording process. The foregoing standalone duplication system still does not need to use a high-end CPU to process complex data computation because the CPU performs only simple control tasks; however, positioning of the standalone duplication system with the built-in hard disk is limited as it needs to be near the personal computer in order to establish a wired connection between the duplication system and the personal computer through a USB cable. When a single standalone duplication system is shared among different users, the standalone duplication system must be moved to different places and connected to and disconnected from different personal computers again and again.
Therefore, a new generation of standalone duplication systems with network connection capability is expected to permit multiple personal computers to remotely transfer data to the hard disk of the standalone duplication system over a network. However, when assessing the CPU of a conventional standalone duplication system with a built-in hard disk, most CPU's do not possess the powerful data computation ability as a more typical CPU commonly found in personal computers. If the control module of the standalone duplication system is expected to perform recording sessions and process data transmission over the network as what a personal computer does, instituting a high-end CPU along with a substantial modification of the control module will cause a significant increase in manufacturing costs thus increasing the sale price of the standalone duplication system.
To overcome these shortcomings, the present invention provides a standalone duplication system with network connection to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.